


home for the holidays

by lost_n_stereo



Series: CeCe's Bellarke Holiday Prompt Meme [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: CeCe's Bellarke Holiday, F/M, bellarke AU, bellarke holiday, modern bellarke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2014-11-14
Packaged: 2018-02-25 08:01:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2614340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_n_stereo/pseuds/lost_n_stereo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>CeCe’s Holiday Prompt Meme - Filled Prompt #1</p>
<p>Prompt - The Blakes and Griffins have always been close and always spend thanksgiving together. Bellamy/Clarke dated for almost three years and since their breakup this thanksgiving would be the first time they see each other since Bellamy left town after their breakup. - from anon</p>
            </blockquote>





	home for the holidays

Every house on her parent’s block is decorated to the hilt with Christmas lights regardless of the fact that it’s only Thanksgiving.

Clarke has always loved this time of year the most. Her parents live in one of the nicest neighborhoods of their small town and every house goes above and beyond to decorate for the holidays. This year is no different and she smiles softly as she looks at each house before parking her car in their driveway.

The dark blue pickup truck parked next to hers in the driveway makes her suck in a breath and she immediately wants to get back into her car and bolt. It’s been two years since she’s seen that truck and the person that it belongs to. His mom’s Mercedes is parked in front of his truck and she thinks that at least she’ll have a buffer if his family is there too.

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as she hits the lock button on her car keys and she doesn’t even make it to the porch when the door swings open and her mother runs out.

"Clarke, you’re home!"

Her mother pulls her into a tight hug and Clarke grins as she holds her mom close. It’s not even that she lives that far away but when you’re only twenty two and living almost a hundred miles away sometimes a hundred can feel like a million.

"Hey mom," she says as she gives her a small squeeze. "I missed you."

Her mother wipes a tear away before kissing Clarke on the cheek. “I missed you too, honey. Come on, everyone is waiting to see you!”

Clarke narrows her eyes at the twinkle in her mother’s. “Everyone, hmm?”

"Yes, everyone. Now come on. Don’t be scared, he’s just a boy." Her mom says with a wink and Clarke rolls her eyes. Just a boy will never be able to describe the boy she spent her formative years with.

It certainly can’t even begin to describe Bellamy Blake.

It also can’t describe the unbearable pain she felt when it all came crashing down around her. They say that high school romances never last and maybe they’re right. She just always thought that they would be different. They spent so much time together that their mothers ended up becoming best friends, something that would stick longer than their relationship did. Which is why two years after their breakup she’s back in her hometown, having Thanksgiving dinner with her ex-boyfriend and his family.

Her mother just smiles as she grabs Clarke’s hand, dragging her into the house as quickly as she can.

"Hey everyone! Guess who’s home?"

Clarke groans as her mom pushes her into the family room where everyone is gathered. One look around the room tells her that Bellamy isn’t here but neither is her father so she assumes they are somewhere together. Octavia, Bellamy’s younger sister by three years, jumps up from the couch and runs to Clarke first.

"Clarke! I missed you so much," the younger girl says as she wraps her arms tightly around her.

"I missed you too, O." Clarke smiles at the girl that she always considered a sister to her, one that she thought might actually be her sister someday. Next is Bellamy’s mom Aurora, who also stands up to hug Clarke but when she speaks it’s quiet and close to Clarke’s ear.

"He’s in the garage with your dad," Aurora whispers and Clarke nods slightly as she pulls away. "It’s great to see you, honey."

The fact that he’s not in the room helps Clarke loosen up and soon she’s forgotten all about the fact that he’s even in the house. She’s laughing with Octavia when she hears the garage door open and close and seconds later her father appears followed closely by the man she thought she’d marry someday.

Oh, how wrong she’d been.

"Clarke! I’m sorry baby, I didn’t know you were here already!" Clarke grins and stands up to hug her father, who laughs as he lifts her up into the air. "Damn, it’s good to see you!"

"You too, dad. How have you been? How’s work?"

She glances over at Bellamy, who’s leaning against her father’s piano with a little smirk on his face, and she doesn’t think that he’s ever looked better. Her dad is talking about his job at the college but Clarke isn’t listening to a word he says. All she can see are the dark blue jeans that fit Bellamy too well and the light blue sweater that makes his eyes positively sparkle.

She’s totally screwed.

Her dad must notice her zoning out because he stops talking and laughs. “Maybe you should go say hi,” he says quietly when he bends down to her ear. Clarke chuckles and hugs her father again, giving him a little kiss on the cheek before she walks over to the piano.

"Hey," she says quietly and Bellamy smiles wide as he holds his arms out to her.

"Hey yourself," he whispers when she folds herself into his arms, her face burying into his neck against her will to smell the cologne that he’s worn since they were sixteen. "It’s good to see you."

"Yeah," she says as she untangles herself from his arms, acutely aware of how close they just were. "You too."

He resumes his position up against the piano and Clarke sits down on the bench in front of it. The awkward silence is suffocating and when he starts to speak she’s thankful at first until she hears what he’s saying.

"Princ…Clarke. Look…I wanted to call…"

She laughs, a little more bitter than she wanted to be, and holds up her hand to silence him. “Bellamy, don’t.”

He doesn’t say anything else, just nods like he knows it’s neither the time or place for this conversation. They both know that it’s an inevitable one, something that should have been worked out two years ago.

Maybe before he picked up and moved four hundred miles away.

Bellamy opens his mouth to say something but the shrill sound of her mother’s voice yelling for everyone to come to the table makes him shut it quickly. He motions with his head towards the dining room and Clarke nods as she stands up from the bench.

"Oh you’ve got to be kidding me," Clarke says under her breath when they walk up to the dining room table and Bellamy must have heard her because he’s snickering as he takes his seat at the table.

The table is adorned with a giant cornucopia filled with leaves and fake fruit and Clarke has to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud at the absurdity of the newest addition to her mother’s holiday decorations.

There are little place cards sitting at each place setting and she knows immediately that the one with her name in her mother’s delicate handwriting will be sitting right next to his.

"Nice cornucopia, Mom," she says with a smirk as she sits down in the chair next to Bellamy and he snorts into his glass of champagne.

Her mother’s eyes narrow as she looks across the table at Clarke. “I’ll have you know that this is a classic Thanksgiving decoration, Clarke.”

"I think it’s great, Abby," Aurora says with a genuine smile and Abby gives Clarke a so there look after she thanks her friend.

"This coming from the woman that once decorated our Christmas tree with stuffed animals," Bellamy whispers and Clarke can’t help it when she barks out a loud laugh. Her mother turns to them with a sharp look and Bellamy just shrugs as he takes a drink from his champagne flute.

"So who’s ready for turkey?"

Her father is grinning from ear to ear as he brings out the biggest turkey that Clarke has ever seen. Her and Bellamy both start to laugh quietly when her mother stands up to move the cornucopia, since the turkey won’t fit with it on the table but another stern look causes them both to stop.

"Should we say what we’re thankful for before we eat?" Octavia asks as her father cuts the turkey into giant pieces. Everyone agrees and Aurora tells Octavia to go first. "Well, I am thankful for Lincoln, who wanted to be here today but had to spend Thanksgiving with his own family. And I am thankful for being done with high school." Everyone laughs and she smiles as she looks around the table. "And I’m thankful that we’re all together again."

Bellamy looks over at Clarke then and she finds her fingers itching to touch him. If this was two years ago, in this same place, they would be sitting much closer and holding hands under the table. He’d be feeding her bits of turkey with his fingers and she’d be laughing too hard to listen when her mother scolded them playfully about not paying attention to the rest of the family.

Now his chair is too far away and his hands are folded on top of the table and she wonders why everything had to go so wrong.

She listens as the others say what they are thankful for. Normal things like family and good health and she hates this part of Thanksgiving the most because how can you say what you’re thankful for without sounding at least a tiny bit selfish.

"Okay Clarke," her father says when he’s finished. "Your turn."

Bellamy shifts in his chair so he’s facing her and she gives her dad a small smile. “Me? Okay well, I am thankful for my job. And I’m thankful for all of my friends and of course, for all of you guys.” She shrugs as she leans back in her chair. “That’s it, I guess.”

Her mother gives her a teary smile from across the table and Clarke wants to roll her eyes but she doesn’t because she knows that her living so far away from home is hard on her parents.

"So I guess it’s me?" Bellamy asks with a grin. "Well, I’m thankful for my mom and my sister. I’m thankful for my job and my friends and all that good stuff." He stops and looks at Clarke, who almost shrinks under the intensity of his stare. "But mostly I’m thankful for second chances." His eyes soften and she feels like she could break down at any moment because this was not supposed to happen. He clears his throat when he looks back at the table and Clarke wants to laugh when she notices that everyone is dead silent. "Okay, let’s eat!"

The rest of dinner goes without any additional fanfare and Clarke spends most of it talking about her job with Aurora and Bellamy. Her mother brings out dessert of pumpkin and pecan pies and she can’t help but smile because she knows that Bellamy loves pecan pie more than anything else in the world.

"Mrs. Griffin, you beautiful woman!" He says when she sets a giant piece onto his plate. "Run away with me, please!" Abby laughs as she drops a kiss lightly on the top of Bellamy’s head.

"I’m sorry, honey. You know that my heart belongs to another," she says before flashing a grin at Clarke’s father.

"Well have it your way then," Bellamy says as he digs into his pecan pie. "There are other fish in the sea." He says the last part in Clarke’s direction and her heart starts racing when he winks.

She doesn’t know what is going on with him but she certainly doesn’t want to ask in front of both of their families.

So she waits until after dinner is over and when she sees him talking to her father in the kitchen she walks over and grabs his arm.

"Bellamy, can I talk to you outside?" She asks briskly and he looks at her in surprise.

"Uhh, yeah. Of course," he says before turning to her father. "Mr. Griffin."

Her dad just nods with a little smile on his face and Clarke is so annoyed by everything at this point that she huffs all the way out the back door and onto the patio.

"So what’s up?" Bellamy asks as he sets himself down into one of the patio chairs.

Clarke rolls her eyes as she crosses her arms over her chest. “What is going on with you tonight?”

"What do you mean?" He retorts and she laughs bitterly as she leans against the back door.

"Give me a break, Bell." The second the nickname is out of her mouth she wishes she could take it back because it’s the first time she’s said it in too many months and the way his eyes light up makes everything just impossibly hard. "You’ve been acting weird all day."

He surprises her when he stands up and he crosses the distance between them in two large strides. “Clarke, I miss you.” They are both breathing hard when he inches closer to her, his eyes darting back and forth between her lips and her eyes. “I miss you so fucking much that sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe.”

Bellamy leans forward and her eyes flutter close but when she feels his nose brush against hers she pulls away. “Then why did you leave me?”

He sighs and his eyes are full of guilt when he looks at her. “Clarke, I was scared.” 

"Scared of what?" She asks pitifully and she hates this. She hates every damn second of it.

"I was scared of us! Of this," he says as he motions between them with his hand. "I was so in love with you and I was barely twenty years old. I was scared that if I didn’t live on my own for awhile I would end up hurting you and that thought fucking paralyzed me."

Clarke scoffs as she moves back a step. “You hurt me anyways. You just left, Bellamy. You broke up with me without a good explanation after being with me for three years and you just left.”

Tears sting her eyes and they both know that crying has always been his weakness. It doesn’t surprise her at all when he pulls her into his arms, his lips kissing her gently on her forehead. “Clarke, I am so, so sorry. I was the biggest asshole on the planet back then but I’m not that guy anymore.”

Clarke pulls away so she’s looking up at his face, at the face of the man that she would have given up everything for. She thinks there is the distinct possibility that she still would.

"So what are you saying?" She asks but instead of answering her he just pulls her tight against his chest and when he kisses her she falls for him, all over again, and she knows that she has never loved and will probably never love anyone but him.

"I want a second chance." He drops his forehead to hers and she feels like her heart might burst out of her chest. "I have always been in love with you, Clarke. Please just give me another chance to prove it."

As much as she wants to just let him in there is still one more nagging thing that could wreck everything. “And what about the three hundred miles between us?”

"We’ll figure something out," he says seriously and even with her brain screaming at her that she can’t lose this man again her heart tells her that he’s right. They can figure it out if it means they can be together. She wants them to be together.

"Okay," she says, her face breaking into a grin when he sighs in relief. "We’ll figure something out."

❄❄❄

The November air is crisp when the dark blue pickup truck turns into the Griffin’s driveway, the lights from the neighborhood houses almost blinding her when she steps out into the night.

"Ready, Princess?"

Clarke laughs as she loops her arm through Bellamy’s and they walk together to her parent’s front door.

"Mom? Dad?" She calls into the empty hallway and seconds later she can hear her mom’s voice call out from the kitchen.

"Jake! The kids are home!"

Her father meets them in the hallway and hugs them both quickly.

"You two are late!" He says, shaking one finger at them playfully, and Bellamy helps her out of her coat before hanging it up next to his in the hall closet.

"I know, dad. There was a huge accident on the 101, we tried to get here as quickly as possible." They follow her father into the dining room and Clarke bursts out laughing when she sees the table.

"Mom, again with the cornucopia?" Her mother narrows her eyes as she gives her and then Bellamy a hug.

"Don’t you start with me on that damn thing again this year, Clarke."

Clarke and Bellamy make their way around the table, stopping to say hi to Aurora, Octavia and Octavia’s boyfriend Lincoln. She locates her seat, next to Bellamy’s, and she smiles when she thinks about how it’s only been one short year since she was terrified to sit next to him at this very table.

He pulls out her chair for her, stopping to kiss her cheek before settling down into his own seat. Everything feels like exactly last year, from the awful table decorations to the gigantic turkey, but this year when her fingers itch to touch him she just reaches over, the silver band on her left hand warming up when he entangles his fingers with hers.

She has a lot to be thankful for this year and she has no problem saying it all out loud when it’s her turn to give thanks.

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd like to submit a prompt for my first annual Holiday Prompt Meme, head on over to www.bellarkeholidays.tumblr.com and send one over!


End file.
